Average electric bill in South Dakota
A typical South Dakota household pays
$138a month · $1652 a year
That is 8% below the national average of $149, the 34th highest bill of the 51 states we track. It covers 981 kilowatt hours a month at 15.73¢ each.
Nobody pays the average
Dearest — January 2026
$173
Cheapest — October 2025
$115
The dearest month costs $58 more than the cheapest — 50% higher and it is heating that does it, in a state with 7,500 heating degree days. If that heat is electric, the winter bill is where the savings are.
Why the bill is what it is
A bill is a rate multiplied by a quantity, and in South Dakota the price per kilowatt hour is doing most of the work. Comparing your own bill to this figure only tells you something once you know which of the two you could actually change — the rate is largely fixed, the quantity is not.
Heating and cooling are usually the largest movable part. Whether that means a heat pump, a more efficient air conditioner, or neither depends on South Dakota's prices rather than on general advice.
Figures are twelve-month averages across 448,859 residential accounts in South Dakota, from the US Energy Information Administration. They describe the state, not your house — square footage, insulation and what you keep the thermostat at move an individual bill a long way. See the South Dakota rate page for the underlying prices.